Haunted House of Unwanted Truths
by KaiaSKye
Summary: Another Abby as a child in a collection of oneshots featuring OC: J. Lucia Zephyr. Before they met their very own evil Murdoch, Abby and her cousin visited a creepier than normal haunted house in which one life is changed. New: Lucia saves an unexpected life then experiences a loss that begins to change the course of her life. Chapter order changed.
1. Her Light

_AN: And no, I don't own anything except for the OCs and story idea. Rated for mild language only. Remaining stories will possibly be reedited soon. Thank you for reading. ~k~  
_

#1. Her Light

/

/

/

"THE HELL'D YA HAVE ME STAY FOR IF-FIN YA HATE ME SO MUCH THEN—HUH?" Jessamine Lucianne Zephyr (or the child as she was often called by her mother's family) demanded more than asked of the adults that just stared at her coldly. "I coulda just went with Mother when she was called away to do her JOB that most of you would not have the stomach for!"

As usual, she might as well be speaking in Chinese for the way her _brothers_ grand-parents and their offspring were looking at her. Small fists clenched at her side as Lucia was determined not to give into the shivers as dark blue eyes flashed at their typical cold indifference. *_What have I ever done beyond being born?* _Perhaps that was it because from the moment she had been born Jessamine had been excluded, at best, to the point that if she was referred to by name there was so much scorn attached to that first name that she had begun to hate it. It was one of her mother's aunts that used all of her names stating that parents take a lot of time in naming their children not for the ungrateful wretches to shorten them. But mother called her her light—Lucia...

"Fine. I don't need you—any of you—now or ever! You've gotten your wish!" She hissed with cold fury that tried to shake the preteen's slight, coltish frame. And once again the large 'family' refused her right for answers in that overcrowded sitting room of the main house. Also no one shivered when the icy blast of winter air accompanied the oak door's loud bang.

Long, dark gingery brown hair streamed behind Lucia as she ran through the, until then, unbroken snow. By the time she reached her mother's special place, Lucia's breaths came out in heavy pants that looked white in the frosty air. As always the small log cabin, just a stone's throw away from the usually rushing water of the rather large creek, remained untouched. A nice warm, but faded, quilt still waited for her in a plastic storage bin along with assorted books and the old sign that clearly stated it's intent in a child's crayon scrawl: GIRLS ONLY...NO BOYS. Her mother once told her how proud she had been that summer of childhood when she found her own place after being excluded from her brothers and cousins' tree house fort.

Lucia laughed at the 'no boys' portion of that old sign as this place had also been shared with her two older brothers. Other than Abby and her mother—even her mother's mentor, Dr. Duck—they were the only ones that she even considered family. Christmas just hadn't been the same without her familial buffers. But Christian had been unable to get away from his firehouse in New York and Beniamo had went skiing with his frat brothers from Ohio State. They each had decided to follow in their respective father's steps—Christian's had been a firefighter while Beni's had been a cop—and she supposed that would follow hers if she only knew...

A shrill scream almost drowned out by the awful cracking of ice jolted Lucia from her thoughts. "SOMEBODY HELP ME! PLEASE"

Thank God her mother had been a scout wanna be! Adrenalin galvanized her into action; grabbing the rope that her overly prepared mother kept on hand. She raced in the direction of the child's crying just in time to see the pink hooded head sink once more under the icy water. Despite how cold the winters of Pennsylvania had gotten, the rather swift currents of the 'crik' seemed to keep it from ever freezing completely. Small fingers trembled at they fought the glove tips in order to make the knots that her mother's newish Naval husband had taught Lucia in an effort to bond with her and her brothers. It would come in handy now as one end was tied to a sturdy oak and the other to her waist.

The frigid water was a shock to her system as the almost thirteen-year-old girl jumped in after the head that had not returned to the surface. It took her several moments to make her eyes focus enough to see the bright pink form of the child that had been swept into the darkened depths under the ice. By the time Lucia reached her, her ears had already begun to ache along with her lungs. The current must have carried them further—Lucia pushed aside that thought as there was no time to dwell in overwhelming odds as she pulled the limp child close to her. She was grateful for the brightness of the rope as well as the something else that seemed to guide them back to the surface. Later, neither girl would be able to say just how they had made it out of the water and onto the bank.

Fear that she had still been too late dogged Lucia as she worked on getting the water out of the little girl's lungs. Her small face was so blue but she just could not bear to allow—that wonderful sound of water being coughed up would forever be etched within her mind. But no more so than the frantic calls of a mother for her lost child. "KELLY! KELLY, WHERE ARE YOU?"

"HERE!" Lucia managed to call out only to double over coughing up water herself.

A large, comforting hand rubbed her back as the red haired woman gathered the now crying girl into her warm embrace. Tears shimmered in green eyes as she looked at the trembling form of her daughter's rescuer. "Thank you! Thank you so much for saving my daughter! How will I ever repay..."

"Just continue to love her." Lucia answered between heaving breaths even as a small smile lifted the corner of her lips. "And do the same should the opportunity be given unto you."

The older man wrapped her in a blanket as he added his own thanks. "What name should we use to thank the good Lord tonight?"

"LUCIA!"

"BENI!" She cried out in surprise as her brothers appeared from nowhere to fall down beside her and envelope her into their arms. "Christian, what're you doin' here?"

Brown eyes showed their relief as well as indignation. "Why for your birthday of course as it's not everyday our little sister becomes a teenager."

Beni glared at the water behind them with dark green eyes. "Though it looks like you made it entirely too close to missing..."

"She might anyway if we don't get her back into the warmth." Christian pointed out.

"You can take her to my place, I live pretty close."

"That will not be necessary as one of our cousins is a doctor and our grandparents' place isn't that far."

Before parting, the older man laid his hand on the already too warm forehead of the girl he felt a strange connection to. "Thank you so much for my granddaughter's life and we'll be checking in on you later. Remember you'll always be in Jackson's prayers."

"Wouldn't talk bout yourself in third person if I were you or people'd might get the wrong impression." Her only answer was hearty laughter heard within the strangely warmed wind.

In the days to follow that warmth would turn into a raging fire that took Lucia's body temperature well beyond what it should be. Cool hands became her world: some familiar some not with one particular pair missing from the mix. There was also a sense of sorrow that hung within the air, but all their tears and pleading went unheard from the slight figure on the hospital bed. Much would be lost to Lucia before the new year could be ushered in...but she was not alone.

The world Lucia finally returned to was, to her horror, a silent one. Only her cousin, Abby, was able to calm her by a gentle touch. Tears ran down the younger girl's face; dark brown braids stark against the backdrop of white. Lucia drew in a sharp breath only to wrinkle her nose at the cool sterility of the room's processed air. Her voice felt scratchy once it finally came out: the pain being the girl's only indication that she had spoken. "Damn hospitals-hate em."

A smile trembled on Abby's lips, her pigtails bobbing along with her head. Lucia's tired attention was drawn to her cousin's expressive hands as they utilized the only other form of communication the two girls used when in Abby's parents' presence, as they were deaf. "IT'S TEMPORARY, OR SO DOCTORS SAY. ONCE SWELLING GOES DOWN THEY WILL KNOW."

"Good thing I already know ASL." Was her tired answer as her arms still felt like lead.

"YOU SCARED US ALL. YOUR BROTHERS WANTED YOU CLOSE TO BATON ROUGE AS THEY'RE BOTH TAKING TIME..."

There was something in her cousin's eyes that unsettled her—something was wrong just as certain that someone was missing. "Mother?"

Abby's face paled further as her expression turned stricken—her tears fell heavier from her reddened eyes. "I'M SO SO SORRY."

"No nononono."

"THERE WAS A BILOGICAL BOMB IN THE BODY SHE WAS CALLED BACK TO EXAMIN-"

Lucia didn't need to see more-the ability to left her for a time as tears blurred her vision. Arms wrapped around her then, sharing in her grief until she felt asleep once her tears were spent. Eventually she would heal as would some of her familial relationships while the loss would rip others to irreparable shreds. However, she did not lose everything as her hearing returned to her even in a delicate state. There would remain a future possibility of permanent hearing loss should she re-encounter pneumonia; or any dangerous decibels for that matter. But for now, Lucia could face the future along with its trials knowing she wasn't alone.

/

/

/

_END_


	2. Haunted House of Unwanted Truths

**Disclaimer: This author owns nothing but the setting for this story and every OC you see along with story line.**

**/**

**/**

Haunted House of Unwanted Truths

/

/

/

There was a presence in these woods. It was like an echo of blue/gray coated soldiers and their cannons that are sometimes heard on nights light this when the veil is thinnest. Or maybe it's just the early Autumn wind with its warm/cold caress that leaves behind goose-bumps. Or perhaps it's that light, playful breeze that plays with the end of your hair one moment then flips girls' skirts the next. But whenever the low moan is heard within the dark sentinels the spiders like to spread their webs among-it makes it hard to believe that such a thing could be only the wind. This is the place of nightmares where low, wispy clouds brush the dark ground with near invisible fingers as if they were to trace the worn names of Mezzanis that had been buried there for many generations.

Perhaps that is the true reason why Jessamine Lucianna Zephyr-Mezzani never liked living so close to the slowly decaying monstrosity although it was hidden within the dark forests. At least The Admiral {as she calls him because of the distance he keeps between the only sister of his younger sons} had built the new house on the other end of his familial estate. The old three-story manor, complete with a widow's peak, had been the setting for more than her nightmares. Her seven older brothers{first four being steps while the younger three were halfs} open to the public every October for reenactments of various stories from the Great War. No matter the true source of the nightmares that had only increased since losing her mother-Lucia firmly blames her two oldest brothers for them.

"OOOh this is soooooooo exciting, Jaz, and soooooooo worth all the extra homework I have to endure to be here during fright week! " Her cousin, Abby, fairly bounced on black boots that most would consider to be too tall for someone just barely into their teens. But then Abby Scuito has always been able to get away with anything, including calling her Jaz, all thanks to her killer puppy-dog eyes. Calling her by the anagram of her name that only Abby was allowed to use, however, had more to do with the cousins-through-marriage's sister bond they had shared since they were tots.

"I know, Abs, you've been talking about it since forever!" Lucianna, or Lucia as she was called by her brothers, said with dry sarcasm to which the younger by two years winced.

"You don't really like working in the haunted house do you? I mean I know horror is similar to but different from the mysteries and whodunits we share the love for..."

"It's not that, Abby." Lucia sighed. "I mean I like the horror genre well enough, but when your older brothers use it as an endless means to terrify you at intermittent times of the year it just..."

"Gets old."

"Yeah exactly like I'd think you'd feel if we visited you more down in New Orleans with the family mausoleum with all that spooky hanging Spanish moss."

"Which, incidentally, you do have here as well, Jaz." Abby said with a careful expression on her pale face even though her dark eyes sparkled in amusement.

"Yeah but it's only around the manor." Lucia answered with a barely concealed shudder. "But at least you've never woken up in the autopsy room...I mean what _house_-mansion-whatever in it's right mind has an _autopsy room?_"

"Not like an inanimate object has a mind!" Abby laughed nervously then tugged on her sister/cousin's hand. "C'mon, Jaz, we're late as it is an' your brothers are gonna kill us!"

And yet they didn't see a soul when they first enter the house which was strange as one of them, Abner she thinks, was supposed to be greeting guests at the door as a ghost butler. Their movements must have triggered it...the voice...as it began to drone in such a creepy manner that it took several moments for them to register the words. "I never liked how they treated you."

Cold laughter chilled them in a way that the _wind_ outside had not as it echoed through the well decorated room that still had its ragged horsehair covered furniture from another time. "I hated how he took advantage at you during the nights his father was away as if you were his property to do with what he wished."

"What's he talking about, Jaz?" Abby asked in a trembling voice to which Lucia shook her head.

"Let's go find the others, I don't like this one bit."

"You won't find them in the way they were for they were in the way...of true love."

"JAZ!" Abby shrieked when their fingers were separated from each other and Lucia looked on in shock as her cousin disappeared through the darkness of the open trap door ...just for a moment.

"WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HER?! IF YOU HURT HER..."

"No harm nor hurt will come to one who truly cares for you as our dear Knight Abigail does, sweet Lucia. She has merely been removed from this situation as this is a moment I have created for you and I. Also the truths that I shall reveal has no place in such tender ears."

"Where are my brothers?"

"In the roles they have picked forever will they play for their own actions they shall pay. To those who protected you they shall rest in time to see another day. But within this Hallow's Eve their fates are sealed such as the one you had called 'father' once but now is known as The Admiral. Follow the path of gold and I will tell you a tale of old."

She hated to give in to such a closet freak but considered this to be the only option when the room fell into darkness moments before a path of golden light appeared at her feet. _'Follow the light-how droll.'_ Lucia swallowed then did just that as it lead her down the path her now older brother, Abe, had picked for this year's 'spooktacular'. Abe, the creepy middle child of their father's first marriage to a woman who had also died under mysterious circumstances along with the first-born son. At least her mother's death was in the line of duty despite finding a biological bomb within the body she had been performing an autopsy on at the time...they still haven't found her killer.

Lucia shook her head then wished she didn't when the sideways action brought her face to face with her brother Abe's hanging head. She screamed once she realized that it was _not_ part of their usual scenes they'd planned for weeks. The rest of him...the rest of him was too mangled to tell any more specifics. She wanted to run...she needed to find Abby... she-"

"You should not mourn the wicked for by marriage or not, he was still known as your brother and he helped one he believed to be half brother to you."

"What do you mean? What gives you the right to decide?" She screamed in pained denial.

"What gave them the right to withhold truth? Follow the path for therein truth lies."

The young teen swallowed hard then followed the path down the back stairs into a room where pale moonlight filtered through bars. She fought to keep down her last meal when she saw her eldest brother tied in a very familiar position, BDSM style, on his knees over a strange board thing with spikes protruding from his bare back. Tears burned her eyes as the nightmares clamored within her mind to be remembered until she turned away from both them and the sight.

"Relief you should feel and not those of tears choking you like he choked you all those different times before. Thought his favorite room in this house to be fitting for his final tableau. However this truth I shall give you: Revenge was Seth's true reason for his treatment of you. For such as your birth mother, his aunt, had taken advantage of him {as she did all her young male students}such as he took a similar, but more crueler, revenge from one he saw as 'prison spawn'."

"No." Lucia whispered, as tears of denial raced down her paling cheeks then rage overtook her. "YOU LIE!"

"Then from the words of the one you had once called father, you tale will tell the truth of why his distance from you was made to be felt."

This time, she struggled with the steeper stairs as well as her heavier heart as they took her all the way to the widow's peak. There The Admiral had been forced to his knees in a form of repentance, still wearing his no-longer pristine Navy whites. "Jessamine, what is the meaning of this?"

She jumped, startled at the unexpected words as they had been bit out in the same fashion she had become used to since the death of her mother. There were neither care nor concern within the proud man's face as he refused to feel fear. Despite every horror she had seen thus far, she couldn't _not_ feel the resentment the man before her had fostered within her. "I should ask you just that myself, Father, but it has been implied by the voice that you are not."

"You always were too smart for your age and sharply observant. I'm surprised that you hadn't asked that before now."

"Grief clouds, slowing the mind to what should have been seen sooner. Now is the time for truth...to burn away the veil of doubt."

"Truth." The man laughed bitterly. "The truth is that no one wanted a child born in prison of a former teacher convicted for child molestation and statutory rape of a student after getting away with it before."

"No."

"If I had known the truth about you and her whore of a sister when I married Evaline then I would have run so fast from the two of you that her head would have spun." The Admiral spat out, his contempt clear in his tone. "I _never_ saw you as my daughter just that bitch's spawn!"

Not wanting to show this man any of the hurt his words had given her this last time, Lucia stiffened her spine then stared him down with coldness in her blue blue eyes. "Then what of my true father?"

"So that you can _bond_ with him in a way that you had never done with me?" The bloodied male-type person laughed menacingly.

"He was _fourteen_ years old when he was _raped_ by his teacher! Do you honestly think any man would even _want_ to know the product of such a humiliating event? No, even if I did know his name, which was struck from the records as he was a minor according to the law, I would not tell you for that reason alone. Should you ever find that piece of information then I suggest you leave the poor man alone as _she_ had caused him enough pa-"

His words were then broken off as electricity traveled through his wet body due to the mist that had been falling steadily for hours. Lucia choked on her tears and the charred flesh as she turned to run away from the sound of the world, as she had known it to be, shattering about her like broken glass. She tripped over the last of that man's sons intertwined with her own half brother...no that's not exactly true is it? However, Lucia was too numb to truly react to the added horror; choosing instead to huddle in a corner where she gave into her tears.

The light touch startled her, but she had almost expected it as Abby _always_ found her when she needed an Abby-hug the most. Unfortunately she realized the figure was all wrong the moment _he_ gathered her into his arms. She stiffened then let out a pained cry when she recognized the feel and woodsy scent of he that held as her crazy uncle-cousin thing. He was crazy and she wasn't clear to exactly _how_ they were related, but he had been the only one in that crazier extended family that had actually seemed to _like_ her. "Issac, please no..."

"I've got you now just as I always have." Despite the streaks of blood on his darkly handsome face, even if he was decades older than her...ewewew he _KILLED_ her family!

"Abby! What have you done to her?"

He grimaced while only a mild form of regret shadowed his green eyes. "She's fine although she found an extra someone in the autopsy room that I hadn't planned on. Unfortunately she fainted but don't worry. Abby will wake up soon in the clearing with a note telling her to not come back here."

Lucia sighed shakily as she wiped away her own tears. "That's like telling a cat to go away when they don't want to. You know that she'll never leave me behind."

"But she won't be because you're coming with me...the note told her that." Issac said tenderly then leaned forward to press his lips against hers since she was in no position to avoid the unwanted gesture.

She shuddered at the bitter taste that invaded her mouth and hurt accusation entered her face along with betrayal. "W-why?"

"It is time for you to sleep so I can take you from this place unhindered. You don't need to see anymore until after you join me on the hunt. Before she could even wonder what that meant, Lucia fell into the black well of sleep.

Several months later she knew what he had meant in a full color detail Lucia had never wanted. A month after that Issac placed the cold, hard steel into her hand as he pressed his forehead against the opening of the barrel with a fevered chant, "Do it, do it now before they get here do it now...only by your hands...only you can stop me, my sweet Lucia."

Lucia screamed when the warmth of his blood splattered her pale, overheated face as the echo of the killing shot rang in her ears. He was so unnaturally heavy on her lap and it took familiar hands to free her from that weight...her Uncle Toby. "Lucia."

"No...I-I can't...no longer light. Please, just call me Luc from this day forward, I am J. Lucianna Zephyr."

/

/

/

END

/

/

/

AN~Yeah yeah I'm late, although there's no limit to chills and thrills, but I couldn't get motivated to write this in time...nor the right idea for this particular idea. Hope this does thrill and chill but if not...well then not my genre huh. Anyway if ya don't like no problem there's the door no need to sign the guestbook. This is just another introductory part of a much larger whole-how large...no clue as of yet as it's all in my mind. No matter what, thanks for reading. ~k~


	3. The Way of Dreams

**Disclaimer: Author does not own NCIS or it's creator's characters. Nor Stephen King's Carrie to which there is special mention.**

**/**

**/**

The Way of Dreams...

or when good friendships go bad

/

/

/

Her ears were ringing and, for a moment, she had a hard time recalling just who she was. Then Abby's now sooty face came into view, the worry on it kick starting her memory. "Jaz, you okay, you didn't hit your head or anything?"

J. Lucianna Zephyr or Luc as she now prefers for only her cousin is permitted to use the anagram of her name. But of course their friend, Gabe has to be different by calling her by another name: "Zeph, talk to us!"

"You're loud and you're so gonna be dead when your big sister sees the back side of the house." Should it worry her that he _didn't_ seem worried? There had been a time when Gabe would have been. But he had been changing from the kindhearted boy she had met through her cousin, Abby. It was because of that kind heart that she had been able to let in another besides Abby after the destruction of the majority of her family.

Luc groaned at the headache she exacerbated by trying to shake out those memories and before her expression could darken further, she pushed them away to ask, "Just what did you guys do to the compound?"

"What _we_ did?" Gabe snorted. "You're the one who threw in something you had no idea what would do to the chemical composition."

"No, I'm pretty sure that was you."

"I second that motion!" Abby said empirically but the effect was lost when she dissolved into giggles. "Man, that explosion was wild!"

"We could always blame that on Gabe's farts!" Before Gabe could retort, Luc's cell phone went off and she held up a finger so she could answer, "Luc."

"Luc, get your ass back home! We're waitin' on ya, kid, time to go."

Luc winced at her cousin's crest-fallen expression, knowing that she had overheard the cell's amplified conversation. "On my way, Uncle Stu."

"So you gotta go." Abby murmured once the phone was flipped shut.

"Yeah. It's quite the drive to Bristol and we need to be there in time for qualifying."

"Man this blows, Jaz, I really really _really_ wanted to be there for your first race!"

"I know, Abs, maybe next time. There will be other races as I'm only a rookie and a young one at that. Probably wouldn't be in this one if I didn't look so much older than sixteen and if mother hadn't let me be a Junior racer way back when. Plus Old Man Gibbs likes my talent and was able to pull a few strings because of it."

"And driving a racecar is _so_ much different than learning how to drive a real car."

She smirked. "Considering that you see a 'real car' as being an automatic, Gabe, despite growing up in rural Louisiana. We can hash it over again later when I get back, win or not."

Abby gave her Jaz a very strong Abby hug despite the two years her cousin had on her. "Of course you'll win, I mean your JAZ, just come back in one piece."

"Promise." And she did, along with the trophy Luc Zephyr had gotten as the youngest female rookie to win...ever.

Gabe was acting strange. Luc was worried with the changes she had witnessed; but, had kept them from Abby in an effort to not scare her after that horrible Halloween almost two years ago. It had taken this long for her to even willingly go _past_ a haunted house or even one that _remotely_ looked like a haunted house. No, she would keep the dead animal she'd just found outside Gabe's house from the younger Abby. Luc shuddered then jumped with a soft shriek when she suddenly heard his voice behind her. "Whatcha doin', Zeph?"

She whirled around with a hand on her heavily beating heart. "Y-you scared me, Gabe. I-I was looking for you to invite you to a Halloween party that Abby's several-times-removed cousins are having in their extremely creepy barn they call the Soggy Bottom."

"Really, the Soggy Bottom?" Gabe laughed with his usual amusement dancing in his navy blue eyes.

Luc felt herself relax at the familiar tones of his voice. "Yeah it has to do with how soft the floor has gotten, but they just put a cement floor in so it shouldn't be a problem for the party as it's going to be a couple weeks yet."

"I thought you hated those things, Halloween especially." Gabe commented in a way that insinuated why without actually coming out and saying it.

"Yeah I do but you know Abby and how much she loves to dress up. After all she's done for me, I feel that I owe her to try to get back this 'holiday' for her. And it's for me as well...an attempt to move on and all."

"Yeah I've seen you moving on...with _Andrew_." And there it was again, that darkness that dripped along with the jealousy she could hear in his tone...then he had her shoved against the wall with her wrists caught within his steel grip.

She shivered when she felt his hot breath on her face, eerily reminded of another that still haunts her dreams, as he covered her body with his own. _He's been working out._ To think that Andrew and the others call him a 'geek'. "I've seen you with _him_ even though I _know_ you know what you mean to me! You can't even see what's right in front of you!"

Tears burned her lighter blue eyes, turning them into deeper hues. "I'm older than you, Gabe. I'll be graduating soon then I'll be splitting my time between the circuit and college to the point that I won't have time for anyone else even if we were the same age. Don't you see, once I reach majority things will be different with us until you are as well."

"Because of your mother and what she did." His words were bitter...but not as bitter as hers.

"Yeah my _**birth**_ mother, for what she did to Seth and for what he did to repay me for her 'deeds'-with interest plus the more 'lesser' torture sessions with Abe. The other two were just pranksters with a wicked streak but they still used/took advantage of me in their own way. Then Issac killed them, except for the only two to truly see me as sister, just to turn around and...and he was no better than them! No better than you if you force this upon me."

The latter was spoken with a deadly type of cold he had never heard from his friend...yes, his friend no matter what his feelings were for her. Because, yes, god help him he did have feelings for her...even if they were beginning to mix with the darker ones that had plagued his heart of late. But it was those purer ones, at this time, that took notice and gave him the strength to pull away when she continued in that horrible, deadened voice: "Tell me, Gabe, are you as different from them as I had once believed you to be? Or are you going to carry through with what I see in your eyes right now...to take what I may never be ready to freely give to _**anyone**_."

He dropped her then, like he had been burned, before turning around and running into the forest. She did not follow.

Then the Gabe the cousins knew and loved returned with his own ideas on how they could "enhance the experience of our peers. Besides, it's not that we're _not_ going and I'll even dress up this time just for my two best besties."

"Just not in the capacity our parents and guardians are expecting." Luc sighed as she felt uneasy with some of his plans along with his true intentions, feeling that it was better to remain cautious about his Jekyll/Hyde personality changes.

"But can you imagine their expressions when something like a rocket goes off or their drink kind of explodes all over them? Can't you see how fun that would be, Jaz?" Abby giggled enthusiastically as she bounced on the balls of her feet. She was just no help at all to Luc's cause as she was more into pranks than even her brother, Damian, and his friend, Tony, combined. Or at least she was...then...

"Relax, Zeph, it's gonna be alright as this isn't a Carrie-type thing." Gabe slung an arm around her shoulders, pulling the almost seventeen-year-old close to his side to whisper in her ear in a way Luc was not all that certain she was comfortable with. "Trust me?"

Luc hesitated to say "Always" as she would have just a short time ago. But the one thing all three of them shared was the love of science and pranks associated with them to the point that Luc found it difficult to refuse them now. Of course, Abby's puppy dog eyes did, in no practical way, help...at all. So Luc found herself sighing and, once more, giving in. "Okay... Gabby."

"Oohhh she called us Gabby again, Gabe! It's been so so so long!" Abby gushed as she practically pranced around the small wooded area behind her house that had become like a clubhouse to the three self-proclaimed 'Geeks to the Third Power'. In truth, Luc had missed this.

Two weeks later we had volunteered to 'decorate' for the 'epic', according to Abby, party until the barn looked positively spooky... Or "wicked" as the costumed witch of our little group proclaimed as she affixed the ugly little rubber green thing to her nose. Luc rolled her eyes as she stuffed some more hay into her over-sized costume of an extra scary scarecrow. Gabe actually laughed at their antics, although it was difficult as his fake vamp teeth kept on falling out. They had all decided that they would make an appearance at the party before slipping in the final touches to make it truly interesting. Once everyone was there and the activities were in full swing-including beautiful apples that they had made sure were riddled with wiggling worms-the trio stepped back to take their places in the loft above the action.

"It is time for the 'true' party to start." Gabe whispered with a gleeful grin that was eerie in the low light cast by the lit lanterns below but his eyes glittered with something that caused Luc's apprehension to grow.

However, her misgivings were soon forgotten as Luc found herself drawn into Abby's glee when one of the dreaded cheerleaders fainted after biting into the worm ridden apple she had 'rescued' from the water. Their laughter soon began to be difficult to control once one of the popular boys actually shrieked from below when an altogether too realistic 'hand' appeared from the bottom of the foamy, bubbly concoction in the punchbowl.

"OMG, he actually fainted!" 'Gabby' exclaimed in almost one voice-that was just creepy even though Luc had gotten used to it a long time ago.

The Homecoming Court's expressions were absolutely priceless when bowls of blood red slime fell on their heads! Gabe shrugged at our upraised eyebrows. "Didn't say there wouldn't be _any_ Carrie-type moments. Sides, it's not like it's real blood."

Then his once warm brown eyes danced with an odd type of dark amusement that brought all those earlier misgivings back as Luc felt her gut twist in a not nice at all sort of way. It wasn't until he held the cousins back from making their escape after the last of our pranks had been sprung that things became truly hinky. "Just wait or you'll miss the 'grand' finale."

The girls shared looks of confused but then shrugged and watched anyway at the scene that unfolded below them. A scene that could only be categorized as a nightmare when horrified screams mixed with the sound of shattering glass then a distant cousin/uncle of theirs fell to the ground-twitching. They watched in numb horror when the effects became a gruesomely odd version of the 'chicken dance' only it involved the entire body{much like a cat that just got run over by a car}. Several others dropped to the ground in the same manner just as the first group of three or so began to seize-violently. Terrified shrieks filled the barn as they all writhed in extreme pain when that numbing shock wore off enough for pandemonium to reign. The party was officially over.

Gabe's chilling laugh just barely cut through their horror before Luc was able to find her voice. "What did you do, Gabriel Alexander?"

"You know that substance you helped me create-that blew up one side of my house? Well, it turned out to be some seriously nasty stuff. Of course I tested it to see it's full effects before adding it to the bubbling brew...but those tests did prove to be extremely satisfying."

Abby's voice shook with accusation. "Andrew's disappearance: that was you, wasn't it."

"And my sister...but only after a few other small animals." He shrugged as an expression of creepy nostalgia mixed with malice further twisted his face into someone they no longer knew. "He was getting too close to _my_ girl so he definitely had to go."

Any further 'conversation' they could have had with their now _former_ friend was permanently interrupted when their own little horror world seemed to explode. Somehow, a fire had started below them during that horrific confrontation as the panicked state of their classmates had escalated without their knowledge at that time. Later, Abby and Luc would find it difficult to piece together what really happened after the hay ignited. To the cousins, the only thing that was truly important was that there were survivors-_sole_ survivors again, unfortunately. Luc had lost less than a quarter of her graduating class and was one of the ones who tested out early.

"Even now, after all this time, we never talk about that night-not even after the nightmares in which I tend to get lost within the crackle of the blaze or the maniacal laughter of a boy who never escaped those flames. Or that is what we thought until I found my cousin lying in her own living room surrounded with bile and blood...but that is another story."

/

/

/

Fin

AN: A rewrite of 'Abby's Very Own Evil Murdoch' just because I didn't want to delete the earlier version. And still get everything under one roof as all these stories are related to others I have floating in my head that establishes my own character's back story as it is significant to my first attempt at crime writing. Until next time, ~k~


	4. Need to Know

**Disclaimer: Author still does not own anything that belongs to a person whether real or imagined beyond the ongoing story of Luc Zephyr and her own world from my very own imagination..twisted as it may be. lol. Author would like to thank those who reviewed/favorited/or just plain read her ramblings. There will be more since there is a lot of backstory I created for this character and got attached to. ~k~**

**/**

**/**

**Need to Know...or How Luc Met Tony**

/

/

/

Blue eyes widened when the sudden cold feeling of being watched washed through the copper haired collegiate. She shuddered at both the feeling and the horror the images had instilled in her. A quick glance around quickly assuaged that paranoia and yet, that prickly 'I'm being watched' feeling remained as her unwilling gaze was pulled back to those awfully gruesome, yet even more horrifyingly familiar images on the lecture hall's screen. It took her everything within her to refrain from running for the exit; quietly reminding herself that the familiarity was only due to content and subject matter. The parents and children laid open for all to see on the screen had been someone else's family that, unfortunately like her own, had been ripped apart quite brutally. The stinging tears that fell against her will did nothing to wash away the cold that still weighed on her heart. Her hand flew up to her mouth to stifle the scream that wanted so badly to leave when an unexpected hand settled upon her shoulder. However, the grounding squeeze caused her stiff shoulders to relax until the young freshman was able to turn her head.

Concerned green eyes smiled at her and the warm timbre that questioned her was instantly set her at ease. "Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost. I'm Tony, by the way."

A reluctant, shaky smile pulled at the corner of her pale lips. "Naw I'm okay, Tony, thanks. Just wonder about what drives certain people to such acts is all. Call me Luc."

"Hmm short for Lucienne I bet." Tony replied with an engaging smile.

Sadness filled her eyes even further, if that was at all possible. "No, Lucianna... Lucianna Zephyr. My mother didn't believe in shortening names saying that parents go through a lot of trouble to name their children and we should be grateful-I think she got that from her mentor tho."

"What, grateful that they didn't make them any longer than Anthony Michael Dinozzo the Second?"

Incredibility produced the desired affect of chasing away that awful expression from her eyes. "Ouch and I thought I had it bad with the name wars my birth had created that saddled me with two very long first names. Then of course my mother had preferred to hyphenate her name when she got married, giving me two last names as well."

"Not bad...just ten-times worse. So what's the other one-first I mean." Tony gave into his curiosity but instantly regretted it as those shadows were back into the darkened blue eyes.

Luc drew in a sharp breath then returned her eyes to their Criminal Psychology instructor, who had begun to give them the evil eye. "Some things are best forgotten...left in the past along with the other specters that insist on lingering in my closet."

"Hmm that bad huh..." Tony gulped at the icy glare that promised very bad things if he continued with this line of questioning then acquiesced. "Alrighty then shutting up now."

Despite herself, that small smile returned but this time it was just a bit larger and maybe...just maybe another piece of her fractured heart was returned to her just then. Perhaps this was the start of a beautiful friendship. "I do believe it is."

"No way! You're Beni's sister?!" Tony exclaimed in such a way that Luc found herself laughing as she tossed the veggies in the hot pan.

"Is it all that hard to believe that Beniamino Zephyr-Mezzani is my older brother?"

"Well for one, the two of you don't really look all that much alike since your hair, while still brown, has that coppery shade to it while his is even darker than mine. His eyes are most definitely not blue and neither is your firefighter brother's."

"That's because they took after the Italiano part of their father's family while I, or at least I suppose, took after my mother's family although there wasn't a blue eye in the bunch there. Their mother may not have actually been my own as I had once believed, but they were still sisters or really close cousins. Not that I will ever know since she was estranged from the family when she was still alive and those I do know refuse to talk about the past-which doesn't really surprise me considering..."

"Your father's family? What about them?" She stiffened at the mention then returned her focus back on the task of cooking, which was supposed to be calming.

Tony shifted his stance when the stony silence stretched on, cursing his knack at finding hidden landmines with people until he almost retracted his words. But then she answered quietly, "I don't even know his name as he was a minor at the time and whatever there was about it would have been sealed-perhaps it is for the best."

"And what about you? Don't you deserve the right to know your father and not some man that maintained his distance from you in life?" Asked the boy that had been standing quietly against the wall.

Fire flashed in deep blue eyes for a moment then fizzled out. "Figures that Beni would talk of such things to you guys."

"Well we are Beni's frat brothers and it matters little that he dropped out of school."

Luc frowned then as she added the last ingredients to her stir-fry. "And I suppose the true reason why was the one thing he kept from you guys."

"Other than it being time to move on, no-tho I still say he was disappointed how things had gone with his academy app." The other boy admitted then flinched when his fingers were struck from their attempt to snitch a taste. "Ow!"

"Shoulda known better by now, Walt, it's among the first of Zephyr's Rules." Tony laughed then shivered when he encountered the ice in her now glacial blue eyes. "Of course I am certainly not complaining-I think I'm gonna set the table,."

She snorted then tilted her head toward the cupboard. "Good idea, Tony. Walt, call the boys if they want to eat."

Tony snorted himself as he thought of the pigs he called brothers. "Yeah like any of them would give up the chance at _good_ food since the lot of them manage to burn _water_. They all agree that you're the best thing to happen to us and I expect the decision makers to announce your honorary brotherhood status any time now."

"Cooking's the least I can do after all you've done for me whether it was in the name of my half-ish brother or not."

"Not that you needed our help all that much to test out all the usual Freshman, and some Soph, subjects. In fact you've helped us more I daresay." One of the 'decision-makers' stated as he took his place at the head of the table.

"Some guidance in chemical studies so that you can stay on the football team is hardly..."

"To which we'll always be as grateful as our poor, deprived stomachs. Sides, not everyone can do what you did to get into _the_ Ohio State University and still manage to get a spot on the girls' basketball team."

Luc snorted. "The basketball team was one of the reasons I _was_ allowed in a few months after the term start. In fact, it is one of the sources paying for my stay here considering it's not a full ride."

"But I did hear that old man Gibbs had already planned to pay for wherever you chose to go."

"_If_ I didn't leave him early. As it was, I traded in my racing career to come here two- years-and-change early considering I'm not even seventeen yet with being born so late in the year ."

"Two days after Christmas huh."

"Ever gonna tell us why you would so soon after the start of a new school year...high school no less-what were you, Junior?"

"Senior. I was always ahead in school and had already skipped a grade or two."

"She says in that no-nonsense manner we are all growing to love." Tony quipped before shoveling in some of the best cooking he had had in quite some time. Lucky for him, her good nature had returned as that small half smile was once more playing on the corners of her lips.

"Might change your mind next time I whoop ya on the court." Luc shot back with that light in her eyes that showed more amusement than her face itself generally did when he voiced his protests of "_One_ time! It was just that _one_ time!"

That one time turned into many other times as the young Buckeye Freshman was quite talented on the court as she was in her studies and the kitchen...not to mention her research. Because no matter what Luc had told her honorary brothers, the need to know had driven her into old periodicals and long hours in the library only to find nothing but dead ends. Until the day _he _paid her a visit.

"Whacha think your up to, girlie?"

Blue eyes that reminded him of his new probie which held the same amount of ice as Luc glared at the grizzled older-than-she-remembered man. "Comes a time in everyone's life in which they need to know the truth of who they truly are."

"Why now? You told me you didn't believe the story your crazy relative spun."

''I was a traumatized child then, Mike, a child who, after finding the bodies of over half her family plus witnessing the death of the man I called father, was subjected to an unequal killing team I wanted no part in! What part of _that_ wouldn't leave anyone unwilling to know any more 'truths' after getting a hint how horrible they are. And then if THAT wasn't enough, just when I was starting to heal and move on no less, my _friend_ decided to go batshit crazy and kill almost all my Senior class! My cousin couldn't even stand to go back to that school cause she felt so guilty-still does in fact to the point she hasn't spoken to me since!"

Finally Luc broke off, fairly gasping for breath before realizing in horror that her voice had risen so much upon standing that the student body in the library at that time had heard-everything. She threw her hands up in frustration then lowered them to shove her papers and research materials haphazardly into her bag. Then stalked out of the building, studiously ignoring their stares on the way out.

"Great now everyone will know that I'm a jinx by the end of the day. Is it really so much to ask just _why_ Old Man Gibbs of Gibbs racing was ever interested in me in the first place?! I know you said that they were distantly distantly related to me, but come _on!_ How long did you expect me to buy that such a lesser common name was from my _mother's_ side? And which one was that-the one I had believed to be my mother for the first fifteen years and change or the one that supposedly born me after-"

"That is why." Luc said as she emphasized each word with a poke to the NIS agent's chest once they had gotten out into the late winter sunlight. "You know who my birth father is and you're protecting him!"

"Something I'd do for some poor kid who had the misfortune to go through such a traumatizing event of his own. Just remember, Luc, it's not just about you and the kid has enough in his life than having to relive the most humiliating moment in his life."

"You're NIS and this is a non-military case."

"You're mother was reserves whether it was nurse services of the Corp or not-your birth mother, that is...don't even ask me how she became a teacher. The mother that raised you, however, was FBI ME and married to my friend's kid. Was my job to look after him and I failed so I'm looking after you instead no matter how the dumb pup treated you after losing the woman he loved more than life. Another thing you need to understand, missy, is that grief of losing someone you love that much changes people and such a grief _never_ goes away! Ever thought that I'm _trying_ to protect you from more traumatic events?"

At the darkness in his eyes, Luc felt herself deflate then sighed as her shoulders fell. "Need to know I'm worth it is all, Mike, if I'm worth finding a way past all that trauma to...never mind."

The tobacco scented arms that surrounded her then surprised the young woman almost as much as the safe feeling she found there. "You're worth it, Lucia Zephyr, and one day I'll prove it to ya just as I know that one day you'll understand why I do what I do. Just askin' ya to trust me for now and know that one day you'll know all you wish to know...for good or bad an I'll be there for you on that day."

Her laugh was dry with more than a touch of sarcasm in it. "Iffn ya don't wait til your deathbed that is, ya old coward."

Mike Franks grimaced then pushed her away to look into blue blue eyes that were near level to his...huh the kid's kid had had a growth spurt-several in fact from that first time he had saw her when she was covered in blood and gore. He shook his head. "You either know me too much or they're teaching you things in this school that are gonna be mad skills once you get out there. What are you gonna be out there if I might ask-not an ME I suppose."

She shuddered as she tried not to remember that Halloween when her brother, Abner, had kept her in the autopsy room of the Mezzani family's haunted house or that other time... "No most definitely not as I'm not certain I can even set foot in autopsy again...least not willingly. No, I'm thinking I'm a bit more interested in psychology and the whys and psyches of serial killers as I have had some experience with em."

"Yeah some." He said dryly with a roll of his eyes then reached out to ruffle her coppery brown hair. "If ya wanna come over to NIS, I'm sure I can find some place to start ya."

Luc wrinkled her nose a bit. "I'm also not certain I wish to revisit those old memories just yet but if I ever change my mind..."

Mike merely nodded then reached out to ruffle her hair. "Gotta go but take care of yourself, kid, and no more pokin' your nose in hornets' nests."

Before she could question his word usage, the old agent was gone. Luc sighed as she reached up to fix the coppery locks she had cut so that they lightly brushed her shoulders. Then suddenly she grinned as she thought of another way to go about her objective. "Besides, there are different several ways to skin cats...just gotta find the right one."

-End of another oneshot-


End file.
